Long Tom Pass excluded from the rally’s route

LYDENBURG – For the first time in 38 years the Long Tom Pass will not be included in the annual Magnum Rally’s route.

This event is hosted in August every year by the Pretoria Old Motor Club (POMC), and this will be the first time that residents will not be able to view the magnificent collection of vintage cars and motorcycles. According to Leo Middelberg of POMC, the decision is a direct result of the freight trucks using this pass.

“The reason is simple; we cannot put the safety of the contestants and the vintage cars at risk. We did ask whether the road could be closed during the rally, but we were ignored.” Middelberg said they cannot put the entire event at risk on the basis of only a possibility that the problem might be resolved.

“We have therefore spent from last Thursday to Monday evening in the area to replan our routes to avoid the problem areas.” He also added that they will continue to avoid these areas in future until the problem is resolved. Middelberg, an engineer himself, suggests as a party in the well-being of the area that a professional engineer be employed to assist with protecting a road such as the Long Tom Pass.

“The roads are designed for a certain number of standard axle loads. Once these number of axle loads are exceeded, the structure of the roads will start to fail. The heavier the loading on an axle, the more of the ‘design life’ of roads are being used up. An overloaded axle does great damage to a road’s structure.

“A road like Long Tom Pass is not cheap to build or rebuild once the structure starts to fail. Should the Long Tom Pass road structure start to fail, as that which happened to the R36/Bambi Road – I doubt that the required funds would be made available to rebuild it.” Middelberg said considering the above he would strongly recommend a ban on commercial load through traffic on the road, and to get Sanral to ban commercial vehicles, other than for local deliveries, on the Long Tom Pass.

The rally is an old favourite in the escarpment and a great tourist attraction for those who have never witnessed these superbly preserved antiques. Vehicles and motorcycles which form part of the POMC are strictly classified in terms of year of production. The basic differentiation is: vehicles produced before and after World War II, thus a split of pre-1945 and post- 1945 vehicles.

Each participant receives detailed instructions and route directions which they must follow as closely as possible. There are marshals stationed at various spots and competitors are penalised for every second they arrive early or late. The entrant with the least number of penalty points is declared the winner.

Participants follow a different route every day to landmarks and towns such as Lydenburg (which has now been excluded), Sabie, Robbers’ Pass, Ohrigstad, White River and Sudwala Caves.

Read Sanral’s response here:

Vusi Mona, general manager of communications at Sanral, replied to queries from the newspaper regarding the increase of freight trucks using the pass. Mona said that the R37 is a national road and as such forms part of roads in South Africa that play an important role in the economy of the country. “It is also a public road open to every user that does so legally within the requirements of South African legislation. Sanral monitors the performance of its roads. If traffic use indicates over time that certain upgrades or maintenance interventions are necessary to ensure that the road functions as required, the information will be taken into account in future planning.”